Daryl Robinson, Organist

Co-sponsored with the American Guild of Organists, Indianapolis Chapter

Daryl Robinson has earned critical acclaim as a solo and collaborative artist, described by London-based Choir and Organ Magazine as a performer with “…a driving muscular poetry underpinned by nimble technique and nuanced sense of style…” Winner of both First Prize and Audience Prize in the 2012 American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Performance, Mr. Robinson maintains an active career as a teacher, collaborative artist, church musician, and recitalist under the auspices of Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc. Robinson’s recital will include works by Pierre Cochereau, J.S. Bach, Calvin Hampton, Gerre Hancock, and others.

Notable recital venues include the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia, PA), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.), the Shanghai Oriental Art Center (Shanghai, China), Cathédrale Saint-Pierre (Poitiers, France), Baylor University (Waco, TX), Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA), and the 2013 and 2016 Spreckels International Summer Organ Festival (San Diego, CA).    Mr. Robinson has also been a featured artist for recent national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists, including Boston (2014), St. Louis (2015), and Houston (2016), where his performances were praised by The American Organist Magazine as demonstrating “…flawless technique and rhythmic verve…” His collaborative career has included performances with the Houston Symphony and Chorus, Mercury Baroque, the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival®, and serving as Collaborative Keyboard Artist for Houston’s two internationally-acclaimed choral ensembles: the Houston Chamber Choir and the University of Houston Moores School of Music Concert Chorale. In the summer of 2016, he served as Organist-in-Residence for the Choral Institute at the University of Oxford in England.

Multiple critically acclaimed commercial discs featuring Mr. Robinson are available, including his debut solo album,Sempre Organo (ProOrgano Records), which was released in 2013 and quickly garnered rave reviews internationally. Selections from the disc have been heard on nationally syndicated radio programs, including Pipedreams® and With Heart and Voice. Collaborative recordings include: Carolae – Music for Christmas (Naxos Records), recorded with the GRAMMY®-nominated Williamson Voices of Westminster Choir College and conductor James Jordan, and As you set out for Ithaka (Albany Records), featuring music of David Ashley White performed by the Moores School Concert Chorale under the direction of Betsy Cook Weber. Committed to routinely commissioning new solo and collaborative works featuring the organ, recent works include: Fantasy on a Theme of Gustav Holst, 2016 (Aaron David Miller), Two Scherzos, 2016 (Jason Roberts), Rumba for Organ, Percussion and Dancers, 2015 (George Baker), Great is Thy Faithfulness for Organ and Tenor, 2015 (Tom Trenney), Concert Variations on ‘Nicaea’, 2014 (David Briggs), andCome, Pure Hearts: Introduction, Theme, and Variations, 2012 (David Ashley White).

In 2017, Mr. Robinson was appointed Assistant Professor and Director of Organ Studies at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music and joined the ministry staff of Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal) as Cathedral Organist. He holds degrees from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University; his major teachers include Robert Bates, Ken Cowan, and David Higgs. Previous positions have included Organist & Artist-in-Residence for South Main Baptist Church in Houston, TX and Assistant Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.